Hello:

I recently setup an Exchange 2003 server for a customer. For some unknown
reason, we can not send or receive mail unless relaying under the default
smtp virtual server is set to allow "all except the list below". Of course,
this presents a problem with this server being an open relay and is then on
the ordb.org list thus blocking mail to many addresses or having mail tagged
as spam. If I set the option to "only the list below" with a blank list, only
internal mail works, nothing goes in or comes out. All other settings are at
the defaults. Any suggestions as to what to do about this would be helpful.

Please reply to rpower26<remove this>@hotmail.com

Rob Power <RobPo***@discussions.microsoft.com> typed:
How are your clients/users connecting? If they're just opening Outlook or
OWA & connecting directly to their mailboxes (no IMAP or POP) they don't
need to relay at all - and this is the best setup anyway.

You can use authenticated relay if you absolutely need to, but I don't like
to do that - in the rare instances where I've had to support external POP or
IMAP users, I've always had them use their own ISP's SMTP server to send
mail.

As for my problem, I know that Exchange sever is normally configured to not
allow relaying and that is how this one was originally set up. However, when
we started having problems with the connection going up and down, and the ISP
was saying there was nothing wrong with the line, one of my associates turned
relaying on to see if that would work. Well, it was probably only coincidence
that the internet connection started working at that moment but he left
relaying on. Then, when I tried to turn relaying off again, they were unable
to receive any mail at all from outside their own domain.

After many hours of searching for an answer, I decided to bite the bullet
and pay for a support call. While on hold waiting for a technician, I was
looking at all of the various settings in Exchange. I came across the smtp
generation rules (Server> Recipients> Recipient policies> Default  policy>
e-mail address policy> smtp) that specifies the domain extension. In this
case it was set to .local (I used the default when setting up Active
directory). I changed it to .com and selected not to apply to existing
accounts because they were already changed. Well, when I finally got
connected with a tech, and we tried it again so I could demonstrate to her
exactly what was happening, it worked just fine! Honest to God, we didn't
change anything else, it just started to work! Go figure?

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